Regional News of Thursday, 12 June 2014

Source: Daily Guide

1,000 Rendered homeless in Oda

Report gathered by DAILY GUIDE yesterday indicated that over 1,000 people had been rendered homeless in the Akyem Oda Municipality of the Eastern Region after six hours of rainfall.

Some of the affected areas were Oda Zongo Township and vicinity of the Oda Secondary School. A number of water bodies, including the Birim River, that over-flooded their banks, flowed through some communities, causing some houses, roads, shops and large tracts of rice farmland, to submerge.

Scores of commuters in separate interviews with DAILY GUIDE expressed disgust at the occurrence and pleaded with the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) to come to their rescue.

At Akyem Oda, the Zongo linguist, Alhaji Insuah Sadick, told this paper that the flood had dislodged over 900 residents in the area.

He disclosed that in some areas, uncovered ‘galamsey’ pits gathered volumes of water which overflowed into some of the communities.

The paper visited various places and observed that the floods were worsening the already deplorable road network in the Municipality, thereby rendering them inaccessible to motorists.

The Akyem Oda District NADMO Coordinator and his team visited the affected communities to empathize with the residents and also assess the extent of damage.

In a related development, over 700 people in various communities of seven districts in the Eastern Region had reportedly been adversely affected by the heavy rain.

The worst affected communities were Asamankese, Akyem Amanfrom, Kyebi, Suhum, Asuboi, Akyem Tafo, Nkawkaw and Bososo.

The Eastern Regional NADMO Coordinator, Ransford Boakye, told DAILY GUIDE that the organisation had been able to handle the floods in some parts of the region, but was struggling to deal with the floods in the Akyem Oda Municipality.

Ransford Boakye disclosed that his outfit would see to it that the victims were provided with shelter and other relief items.